Staff Newsletter  June 2010
Welcome back.  We hope you have had a nice, relaxing half-term holiday as this next half-term is one of our busiest!
Starting with the trip to Hesketh Farm for our Pre-School Group on Tuesday 15th June, continuing with the Ben Rhydding Community Fete on Saturday 19th June, our 40th Birthday Fun Day on Saturday 3rd July, trip to Nell Bank for our younger group on the morning of Friday 16th July and ending with our Pre-School Group Leavers presentation on Wednesday 21st July – our last day before the long Summer Holidays!  Look out for information posters/forms nearer to the times of these events.
Can we remind everyone to send their children to Pre-School prepared for all weathers!  We try to extend our play to outside everyday.  We have 2 large sun shades which we put up during very sunny spells but the children still need protective sun cream applied, if possible before they start a session.  We do have some sun cream available should the need arise which is Tesco Kids Sun Protection Factor 30. If you would prefer for us to use your own sun cream, please let staff know and send it in, clearly labeled with your child’s name. ……. And if (when!) it rains, a suitable waterproof coat!
We continue our theme of ‘The World and Beyond’ and hope to create a focus interest table on France in week 2.  A number of children have reportedly visited there and some can even speak a bit of French!  We would like to expand on this so if you have any resources (photos/music/stories) or expertise we could borrow, please let a member of staff know.  And as if you can forget it’s the World Cup in South Africa coming up – a great chance to learn about other countries!
With our Pre-School Group we will be learning the next Jolly Phonics group of  letters/blends which are;  y, x, ch, sh, & th.  We will also be focusing more on some of the practical skills which will be useful for starting School, such as managing fastenings on clothing and shoes, name writing/recognition and clearing up after themselves.
 And with our younger group we will revisit numbers 1 to 10.
In keeping to our commitment of encouraging children to be healthy - and following evaluation of Child Initiated planning, a local dance teacher, Heather Holt, will be visiting us on Wednesday 30th June to teach the children (& staff!) some dance moves.  We hope this will be the first of a number of visits.
Can we take this opportunity to say a BIG THANK YOU for collecting Tesco Vouchers.  We have over 5,300 and are now looking through the catalogue to see what we can order with them.
Please look out for the results of our Parental Questionnaire.  It makes interesting reading and staff will be taking action on some of the points raised.  As part of the feedback, staff are to start register time by 9:15am.  Please try and have children in before this time.  We understand this might be difficult for families with children at other Schools and will evaluate this.
Would anyone be willing to look after our pet Snails Henry Lisa and Gladys Stanley over the holidays?  They are very low maintenance and don’t make a sound…….!  Please let staff know if you can help.
This half-term we also bid a fond farewell to our Pre-School Leader – Sandra.  She will be a hard act to follow and will be missed, but … with a bit of luck might return in the Autumn to do some volunteering!  And…. we would also like to announce that Katie Sido is expecting her second child, due in December!
Interested in working at our Pre-School?  We have a vacancy for a Lunch Time Supervisor to start in September, see the posters displayed for details.

Sandra, Peggy, Tricia, Alison, Helen, Imy, Hannah, Lana, Chris & Katie